WHEN YOU START DOING YOGA, THESE 7 THINGS WILL HAPPEN

WHEN YOU START DOING YOGA, THESE 7 THINGS WILL HAPPEN

By lifehack.org - Charlotte Jurd-Gibbons

Yoga has been practised for thousands of years and when you start doing yoga, it’s easy to see why this practice remains popular. Yoga is designed to rejuvenate the body and mind, and is about focusing on the self. It’s a discipline that grows with you as you become more tuned in with your physical-spiritual connection. It can be easy to forget that yoga is a journey into your self-development and that class shouldn’t be a time to show off. It’s a time to heal, tune-in, see how your practice has evolved, and of course, to have fun!

Here are seven things that will happen when you start practising yoga.

You’ll learn to let go of what doesn’t serve you

My teacher says this a lot in class and it really is true. As you begin to realise that there is no competition in class and there’s only so far you can push your body, you bring that philosophy into your life. You may also find that old emotions come up during a particular pose. I remember one class when I was so angry, I felt sick and felt like crying and I wondered if there was something wrong with me. Then I found this website which described why we can feel overwhelmed in class. It was helpful to be reminded that yoga entails allowing yourself to heal which means buried emotions resurfacing so they can be released.

You’ll become more confident!

Yoga allows you to connect more deeply with yourself and your body. You start to feel gratitude that you can hold your body weight – especially when doing a vinyasa that incorporates chaturanga! You embrace every part of yourself because you know it’s your body and you CAN do it. You’ll build muscle and tone up places you didn’t even know existed! Here’s a guide to how yoga changes the body over a prolonged period of time.

You’ll become mindful of the types of food you eat

Maybe it’s the new found awareness of your body, or the detoxing stretches, but something clicks in your brain and suddenly you don’t want to fill your body with chemicals, or eat food loaded with sugar. Me and my friend always joke that the best meal of the week is the post yoga class meal. You feel so good that you want to carry that through into everything. Not only that, but your metabolism improves meaning your body can utilise vitamins and minerals with more efficiency and much more effectively. This study by Shauna E. Keeler describes how those who practised yoga were more mindful of their food choices.

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